ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO AUTISM & ASSOCIATED 'FRUIT SALADS'

Donna Williams, BA Hons, Dip Ed - Consultant and lecturer

As a person diagnosed with autism who became an autism consultant, I have been counseling families and individuals since 1996.  My text books are used in courses on special education & psychology.  I have been hired by health services, human services and  education departments to work with people in their care and provide training.

My job as a consultant is perhaps closest to being a 'specialised case manager' for hire.   I assess 'developmental fruit salads' and I have worked with over a thousand families.  I look at a person's current communication, interaction, behavior, development.  I then look at which low or no cost strategies might help that person lead a fuller life, better reach their potential and establish more harmonious relationships with those in their life. 

QUALIFICATIONS AND RESEARCH INTERESTS

My qualifications are in linguistics, sociology (largely social psychology, social anthropology), teaching and I have wide experience in research, counseling, and advocacy.  As such, I draw upon a wide range of research interests: gut, immune, metabolic issues, any co-occurring mental health issues, personality/identity/dissociative disorders, sensory perceptual and sensory processing disorders, motor planning issues, environments and their patterning.

THE AUTISM SPECTRUM:

There is 'Autism' the noun, the diagnosable condition.   There is also 'autistic' the describer, the adjective and any human being will have experienced some kinds of 'autistic' phases or moments.  Today, Autism is still a singular word given of a range of conditions in a spectrum of 'developmental disorders' (some prefer to see them as 'developmental differences').  However, given the diversity of people on the autism spectrum, these are actually AutismS.  Looking closely at each individual, these can broken down into addressable 'autism fruit salads'. 

I have seen stereotypes busted.  I have seen profoundly disabled human beings inspired to be more than their condition.  I have seen the miracles of what those once written off can teach us.  I have also seen the miracles of those without autism who dared to learn so much from those with it.

THE SPECTRUM OF DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS:

Dissociation is the ability to cut off from what is happening around you or to you.  In its simplest form it is daydreaming.  It is a skill all children have and which children with autism tend to overdevelop in managing a world they find overwhelming for a whole range of reasons.  Dissociation, Derealisation (the feeling nothing is 'real' or that everything feels like a dream), and Depersonalisation (cutting off from emotions, detaching, inability to take experiences personally), are experiences most of us have had.  Dissociative disorders are where these create problems with functioning and coping in every day life.   Some people will have greater tendency toward developing dissociative disorders and if they then experience significant trauma may be more at risk of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  If they are continually entrapped with such experiences from infancy or very early childhood they may be at risk of more severe dissociative disorders such as DDNos or DID.

In 2010 I was diagnosed with the dissociative disorder, DID, a condition I've probably had since I was 2 years old and which was enhanced by my dissociative abilities already present as part of my autism.  I connected with a number of adults both on and off the autism spectrum who were also diagnosed with DID and eventually used my skills as an autism consultant to begin to research the complexities and diversity of dissociative disorders.   I came to do some consulting work associated with DID, primarily working with therapists in helping them as they came to grips with the DID systems of their clients.